forget the pops, clicks, wow and flutter of mechanical discs, the future for tweaking audiophiles is Slingboxes and high fidelity downloads:

http://www.stereophile.com/news/051605musicgiants/

The more I improved my stereo system, the more it revealed other flaws, especially the recordings. I thought then, as I do now, that tweaking audiophiles will devote a portion of their hi-fi budget to high quality recordings - they are the ones who can best hear and appreciate the quality.

AM radio wasn't hi-fi, so audiophiles bought FM tuners. Cassettes weren't hi-fi, so we bought reel to reel decks. Records weren't quality enough, so we bought master recordings. iPods are so much dreck, so we will download lossless releases.

BTW, not only did I think that Dolby dynamic range expansion would save the record industry from the CD, but I thought that music video DVDs would eclipse the CD...

I'm very quickly losing my interest in giving even one more nickel to SONY/BMG, EMI, et al. There should be enough recycled material out there to fill my needs at this point. 

 I wonder if the day is near when almost all music is sold via downloads. If that day comes,  it would seem that it would be easy for the engineers who want to do some good work, to be able to make different recording qualities available at very little extra cost.  For example, for every recording, make an Ipod version available, as well as an audiophile version.  Then let the customer choose.   Wishful thinking??

 So bloody true...real High Fidelity is dying except for a few diehards.  Most of this is because of the iPod thing and peoplel getting used to listening to sampled music, coupled with the drive by some major manufacturers to make things house friendly, eg tiny speakers and a subwoofer, like the Bose Acoustimass series...sound is ok, but they are invisible in a room, nothing like my HII's or the RF/RC/RW stuff, not exactly invisible. 

mdeneen:

This is why so many of the people who enjoy good sound and good music are turning to vinyl. I think that end of things is booming.

The prices are also much cheaper for used un-remixed CDs.

You all really want to get me started. Somebody posted this same article over on DECWARE forums and I flipped out. I am not going to repeat my comments here because it is too painful for me. You all should check out the thread that resulted from my post, as I believe it is a good read.    

mdeneen:

I'm very quickly losing my interest in giving even one more nickel to SONY/BMG, EMI, et al. There should be enough recycled material out there to fill my needs at this point. 

If I am folowwing Mark correct, I too buy used more than new music software both digital and vinyl. I have only bought new from www.yourmusic.com in the past 7-8 months due to the lower than retail store price.

I find only a few people in my local peer group that invest in high fidelty. Nearly all of my friends apreciate my system, few are motivated to build a system for themselves.

Why should they if they can come over and listen to yours?